Process of treating ores.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- JOSEPH SAVELSBERG,OF PAPEXBURG, GERMANY PROCESS OF TREATING ORES.

from oxid ores, as will be hereinafter particularlydescribedand-claimed.

In the extraction of many metals-such as nickel, cobalt, copper, and the like-the corresponding ores are melted in the shaft-furnace to obtain a matte, and from. the latter the-metals are extracted. Since only a few ores, as copper sulfid, contain sufficient sulfur for the formation of this matte, it is necessary in some cases to add sulfur-bearing substances orsulfur. To such ores belong the New Caledonian nickel and cobaltores, which contain the metal in the form of an oxid.

They are of themselves melted with difliculty i and are very unsatisfactory .in their working in a shaft furnace, as the greater part of them are in the form ofpowder or fines.-

It has been the practice to mix metallic sul-- fur with the ores and then briquet the mixture and charge the briquets into the furnace in order to form the matte. The briqueting is very costly, and it is difficult to prevent the briquets from breakin before they reach the melting zone in the furnace, as they very often are broken or fall apart in the upper part of the furnace, producing too large a per:

centage of fines, thereby increasing the difficulties and the costs of working. First, the operation of the furnace is choked, requiring a larger percentage of coke or coal for its operation; second, there is also a large percentage of dust, oWi g to the higher pressure of the blast that must be used with the ma terial in a fine state, and much valuable product is losty third, the briqueting of the roducts sets free the sulfur, and much of it is hurried and rendered useless by the production of sulfurous -.acid gas. It is therefore necessary to use an excess of sulfur or sulfurbearing materials- I The object of the following invention is to avoid the briqueting of the material and dis- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 15,1905. Serial No. 260.565.

Patented i'l'an. 23, 1906.

pense with the dilliculties above mentioned and 1n a single operation obtam a sulfunzation and a sintering of the ores 111: the-converter or other suitable apparatus with; the

use of forced blast. To this end the ores are mixed with sulfur or sulfur-bearing materials and flux, ifnecessary, and a suitable quantity of pulverized coal or coke is well mixed together and charged into a converter on a bed of glowing fuel or ore and simultaneously force blast is blown through the mass. The

charge is so heated that the sulfur reacts upon the ores containing the metals to form sulfur compounds of these metals and the sulfurous acid is reduced by the glowing carbon again to sulfur. These reactions during the process produce su'llicient heat to bring the mass to the sinter containing sulfids of the metals, and the sinter is then broken and charged into a shaftfurnace' and melted down', as usual.

In the above-described process sulfur-containing materialssueh as sulfates, gypsum, sulfids, and the likemay be used. When sulfates are used, a corresponding larger quantity of reducing substances, such as powdered coal or coke, will be necessary to reduce the sulfates to sulfids. Other sintering processes that have been carried out in the converter have for their object to utilize the heat of combustion of the sulfur for car: rying on the process and for sintering ore for desulfurization. The present invention has for its object exactly the oppositethat is, the sulfurization of the oreand does not rely upon the heat of combustion of the sulfur to carry on the process and sinter the ore, but on the heats of reaction due to the combination of the sulfur with the heavier metals of the ore.

The advantages of the present invention are Very important. First, the cost of briquetingmaterial is entirely dispensed with; second, thematerials for the shaft-furnace are exceptionally well suited for working in this manner, since they are in hard pieces; third, fuel is saved in the operation in the shaft-furnace; fourth, there is considerable saving of sulfur, since the sulfurization process is so economically carried out in the converter that the smallest possible excess of sulfur will be necessary fifth, there is no dust resulting from fines; sixth, a richer matte is obtained; seventl1,,an absolute dry material is used in the shaft-furnace, while in briquetingia lar e ercentage'of water is necessary toform t e riquets, thereby requiring more fuel to dry it oh.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure aroma chargin the same intoa suitable furnace onto a ed of glowing carbon and ore and blowing the charge to cause the sulfur to combine with the metal of the oxids to form sulfids and sinter the mass, substantially as described.

4. The process of treating o xid orescontaining nickel, cobalt and copper, which consists in mixing the ore with sulfur, carbon and a flux, charging the same into a suitable furnace and blowing the mixture, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH SAVELSBERG,

. \Vitnesses:

WIL IAM KUEPPEOS, JoH. 801mm. 

